News from Stowe

A lot can change in a year, and Stowe never seems to stand still.

The world around us is changing every moment and, if nowhere else, schools should be places that recognise these changes and prepare our children for them. At our recent education conference, StoweEd, our Common Room was joined by teachers from across the country to hear about the latest educational theories, to discuss and generate ideas about creativity in the classroom and to share best practice, to ensure that Stoics are receiving the best teaching in the sector.

It is not just teaching that has changed at Stowe but also the environment. In January 2017, we celebrated the opening of our wonderful Science faculty, a building that has been named in honour of Old Stoic, Henry Worsley (Grafton 78) and which has had a huge impact on the teaching and learning of Science at the School. This vibrant, modern and well-equipped building has taken Science at Stowe to another level.

Since last year’s magazine, we have seen the opening of West ‘5’ the newest building to be added to the West complex which provides our Sixth Form girls’ house with some superb facilities and a beautiful space within which to work and live.

Those of you who have been able to come to Stowe in recent months will also have seen ‘new’ Cobham rising from the ground in Chapel Court. This beautiful new building will be populated by Cobham boys towards the end of this year as they move out of Cobham’s current residence. This is the first new boys’ boarding house in more than 40 years and is designed to give pupils the best accommodation possible. Cobham’s departure from the main Mansion will leave space that will be used for Grafton, which has a small land grab to improve its facilities. The remainder of the space will be developed over the course of 2018 into our two new day houses, which have appropriately been named after two humanitarians and Old Stoics, Leonard Cheshire (Chatham 36) and Nicholas Winton (Grenville 27). These Houses will open in 2019 when the number of day pupils at Stowe will not increase greatly but their environment will be bespoke and tailored to the needs of these local children.

The look of our pupils has also changed as the uniform for the Lower School has been updated. With the input from Stoics, the Lower School can now be seen sporting rather fetching waistcoats and Stowe ‘branded’ clothing. They all look very professional in their more business-like and modern outfits!

For those of you who visit Stowe regularly you will see these changes for yourself and I hope that you enjoy looking round some of our new facilities and perhaps have the opportunity to see some classes in action. For those of you who do not make it back to Stowe as often, then I hope that some of the images here will give you a taste of the changes this year.

As ever, we are delighted to welcome Stoics and their families to Stowe and if you would like to visit please do get in touch with Anna Semler in the Old Stoic Office. If you are considering Stowe for your children, please do contact me in the Admissions Office.